Sainsbury’s is expanding the use of facial recognition technology to five additional London stores this week as part of its efforts to tackle rising levels of retail crime.
The supermarket will introduce the Facewatch system at branches in Dalston, Elephant and Castle, Ladbroke Grove, Camden and Whitechapel.
The retailer said early results from the trial had been striking, with recorded incidents of theft, harm, aggression and antisocial behaviour falling by 46 per cent.
It also reported 92 per cent of offenders identified during the pilot did not return to the stores, a trend Sainsbury’s believes demonstrates the deterrent effect of the technology.
Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said the company was taking a cautious and transparent approach to the rollout, emphasising the aim was to build public confidence as the system is deployed across multiple stores in the same area.
“We are doing this intentionally and transparently so we can build confidence as we go and understand how the technology works when several stores in the same area use it at once,” he said.
Facewatch is designed to identify individuals with a history of violent, aggressive or criminal behaviour in participating stores.
When a person enters a store, their facial image is scanned against a database of known offenders linked to retail crime.
Sainsbury’s is expanding the use of facial recognition technology
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If no match is found, Sainsbury’s said the image is deleted immediately.
The company claims the system operates with an accuracy rate of 99.98 per cent and stressed every alert is reviewed by trained staff before any action is taken.
Strict criteria must be met before someone can be added to the watchlist.
A detailed record of the individual and their alleged behaviour must be compiled and supported by evidence, which is then reviewed by a Facewatch data protection officer who must be satisfied that the threshold for inclusion has been met.
The expansion comes amid rising concern about violence and abuse directed at shop workers
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The expansion comes amid rising concern about violence and abuse directed at shop workers.
According to the British Retail Consortium, retailers face around 2,000 incidents of violence and abuse every day.
A recent USDAW survey found that 77 per cent of shop workers had experienced verbal abuse, while more than half reported being threatened at work.
Sainsbury’s has significantly increased its security spending in recent years.
It became the first UK retailer to introduce body‑worn cameras for staff in 2018 and has since added more security officers, in‑store detectives, entry barriers, protective screens and enhanced product protection measures.
Claire Pickthall, Sainsbury’s retail and digital director, said the results of the facial recognition trial had exceeded expectations, describing the impact as “seismic” and the findings as “hugely encouraging”.
It comes after residents in south London expressed outrage after their town installed the UK’s first permanent facial recognition cameras.
However, the use of facial recognition technology in retail settings has drawn criticism from privacy campaigners.
Madeleine Stone, senior advocacy officer at Big Brother Watch, said the deployment raised serious concerns.
Facial recognition cameras are getting rolled out by the police
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“Facial recognition surveillance turns shoppers into suspects, with devastating consequences for people’s lives when it inevitably makes mistakes,” she said.
Sainsbury’s said it had introduced safeguards to address privacy concerns, stressing that the technology targets only individuals previously involved in criminal or aggressive behaviour and that ordinary customers and employees are not monitored or tracked.
Clear signage will be displayed at store entrances to inform shoppers that facial recognition is in operation.
The retailer said it intends to extend the system to more stores nationwide and will continue assessing its performance and impact as the rollout progresses.